Drifters Beta Test

Never Forgive a Shenanigan!

Mechano, Frisk, and Asriel have just talked to Aaron and are still in the city. They need to find lodging for the night before heading out into the forest.

Mechano asks Aaron to let him stay overnight, but Aaron explains that he and his wife are having a scuffle back home. He pays for a night at the local inn for Mechano and company, though, as thanks for Mechano agreeing to find his lost supplier.

They head into the nearby tavern/inn. The first floor is a bar and restaurant, with the inn above. A large man tends bar, and a sphinx mystic serves the tables.

Aaron introduces Old Joe, the bartender – a former drifter. Aaron then introduces the party to Joe, who offers to get the kids some milk and the adults some drinks.

Joe asks what Mechano is doing there. Mechano anxiously explains that he’s just a normal nondescript person. Aaron explains that the party has agreed to help him find his lost supplier from the wendigo.

Frisk says that sounds pretty sad, and wonders why no one’s tried just talking to them. Joe dismisses the idea as ridiculous.

Joe shows off the menu. Frisk makes sure nothing has snails in it, which confuses Joe slightly. Asriel insists Frisk would like it if they just tried it.

Joe asks if Mechano really thinks he can stop the Wendigos. Mechano incredulously asks if Joe knows who he is – then realizes that he’s in disguise and that of course he shouldn’t. He mumbles to himself.

Joe says they’ll need assistance going into the forest, and whistles over for three adventurers across the bar – Mina, Ajax, and Lucia. Mechano squints suspiciously, thinking he’s seen them around somewhere.

Mina hands the children candy. Frisk eats theirs immediately, while Asriel saves his for later. Mechano frowns and asks why he didn’t get one too; Mina gives him one too.

Frisk asks if Mina’s ever talked to a Wendigo. She hasn’t, but wonders if they’d throw great parties.

Joe mentions that there’s a 500 Silver reward for a Wendigo, dead or alive. Joe also explains that deep in the forest there’s said to be a vast treasure hoard left behind by pirates.

Frisk asks what would happen to a Wendigo that’s captured alive, and Joe explains that they’d just be taken apart and used for resources. Frisk is horrified and says they really don’t care about how useful their hides are.

Frisk wants to take Mina along— she’s endeared herself to them with the candy. Mechano thinks Ajax’s strength might be the better choice for taking down a Wendigo. Frustrated, Mechano asks Asriel to solve the dispute. He too picks Ajax, enamored by how strong and tall she is. Ajax accompanies them.

Joe further mentions that there’s an old rumor that a wizard laid a great source of power somewhere in the forest. Joe thinks it may be a large Resonator, which piques Mechano’s – and the nearby dragon mystic Alecia’s – interest.

The group heads upstairs to go to bed. As Frisk heads up the stairs, Frisk’s aura can be seen by Alecia – whose mystic eye detects something powerful about them. It’s a strange aura, unlike any Alicia has ever seen. It’s crossed with black and white lines in a double helix. Alecia stares at Frisk intently.

Alecia is taken aback as Frisk introduces themself, continuing to stare. Frisk looks down at themself to see if they spilled anything on their clothes. Alecia asks why Frisk is here; Frisk explains that they came here to get a carpenter, but now they’re looking for a missing person.

Alecia wonders what kind of reward they’d get for finding him. Asriel remembers that catching the Wendigo would net them 500 silver. Frisk also mentions a “Radiator” (Resonator) stone, but Mechano shushes them, not wanting others to know about the rare powerful artifact.

Frisk thinks that they should invite Alecia along to help them. Mechano says that they can’t trust her because she’s a stranger. Frisk says that Mechano’s a stranger too, but Mechano insists that he’s obviously trustworthy, smiling insincerely.

Alecia grows impatient and asks what the hell the group is doing, whispering to themselves on the stairs. Frisk says they’re discussing whether or not to tell her about the “Radiator”, frustrating Mechano further. Asriel is also frustrated… by Frisk’s inability to remember the word “Resonator.”

Asriel lets it slip that the Resonator they’re looking for is huge. Mechano insists it’s not, since children often exaggerate things. Alecia asks why Mechano’s sweating so much if it isn’t; Mechano retorts that he’s just a naturally sweaty person, and that Alecia was insensitive for pointing it out.

Alecia says the team looks like they wouldn’t make it, but Asriel interprets that as her offering to come to help.

Mechano steps forward, whispering in hushed tones that he knows what Alecia’s game is – and warns her that the Resonator is his. Alecia taunts him, saying she might just take it for herself after all. The two form an unsteady alliance and split up into their own rooms to retire for the night.

During the night, Frisk asks Mechano about why the guards wear different-colored uniforms. Mechano explains the five families that control the town, and mentions what a bad job they’re doing; Hypothetically, Mechano would run this town – this entire land – far better.

They wake up the next day, retrieve the Mechano Walker from the parking garage, and set out to the forest.

Frisk doesn’t want to hurt the Wendigo. Mechano brushes off the idea. Frisk really wants to bring it back alive.

Ajax tells them where Wendigos come from. Ajax explains how they’re descendants of humans who turned to cannibalism and became cursed. Frisk says it’s not fair that they have to suffer because of something their ancestors did. Ajax says life’s not fair… but Frisk says that if that’s true, then it’s up to people to try to make the world a better place. Frisk buys manacles to capture the Wendigo nonviolently.

Mechano and the kids get in the Mechano Walker, while Alecia and Ajax walk alongside them, as they head to the forest.

They arrive in the dark forest, with a thick canopy that almost entirely blocks out the sun.

Alecia takes the lead as they walk further into the forest. She feels something strange about the ground, and comes to a stop. It may be a trap.

Mechano fires his laser blaster at the ground, which gives way instantly into a 9 foot pitfall filled with large, sharpened stakes, and strange boxes attached to them. It was clearly designed to kill something big.

Mechano hovers down to examine the boxes, congratulating himself for “finding” the trap, even though Alecia’s the one who noticed it. He notices that these are boxes of explosive components that – if jostled – would create a tremendous explosion. The trap is a “Wendigo’s oven,” a trap typically designed by humans or mutants to exploit the weaknesses of Wendigoes.

Mechano very carefully picks up three of the explosive charges and adds them to his inventory. He plans to make his own version of these bombs, that create an explosion in the shape of his own face.

Frisk says that they should take the stakes too— ostensibly to use as raw materials later, but in truth they just want to render the trap harmless. Mechano knocks the stakes down and they take them with them.

They come to a fork. On the left are bootprints, left by human-sized boots. On the right are much more careless-looking patterns, left by something substantially heavier.

Mechano wants to find the Wendigo and the Resonator first, but Frisk thinks the highest priority is finding the lost human – and doesn’t want to fight the Wendigo anyway. Alecia wonders where Mechano picked up this kid, and Asriel explains how they met.

Frisk manages to convince Mechano to go left for now, telling him that if they can find Mathias, he’d be indebted to the party, and the rewards would be increased.

Alecia, bored by Frisk and Mechano’s debate and not paying as much attention to her surroundings, steps into a trap that yanks her away. Frisk jumps out of the walker and follows after. Mechano momentarily shrugs, happy that Alecia is out of the way – then remembers that if anything happens to Frisk, he’ll be in hot water with Toriel. Reluctantly, he gives chase.

Alecia cuts the rope, and drops down, landing on another pitfall trap which gives way immediately. She falls into the explosive charges, which blow up immediately and set her on fire.

The party arrives to find her momentarily. Frisk dumps their water canteen on her. Mechano halfheartedly shoots the wall, to try to dislodge enough dirt to fall on her to douse the fire.

Frisk asks what Mechano is doing and tries to grab his canteen; Mechano says it’s his water, and he doesn’t have to share it if he doesn’t want to. Frisk tries to take it by force, but Mechano knocks them down and sticks his tongue out at them tauntingly… while they start to cry in the dirt. He then fires another shot, and successfully dislodges enough dirt to douse the fire this time.

Ajax helps Alecia out of the hole.

Mechano suggests that Alecia should return to town since she’s injured; Obviously, he doesn’t want her to tag along due to her seeking the Resonator. Alecia flips him off, as Mechano offers a mocking “You’re welcome” for saving her. Frisk applies first-aid to her burns.

They return to the road. They find a shack in the middle of a clearing. It’s a hunter’s outpost.

The voice goes silent, but is assured it’s not a Wendigo because they don’t make such awful jokes. The door unlocks, and inside is a tiger mystic.

When he sees everyone, he’s relieved because he thinks they’re a hunting party. He introduces himself as Juan, from the beast tribe. He’d come to hunt the Wendigo, but got separated from his hunting party. His friends, Bud the Tengu and Aima the Mermaid, are still lost somewhere.

Juan explains that Wendigos are expert climbers, so a pitfall trap wouldn’t work well against one.

Frisk gets a water-refill and a first aid kit from Juan. They give the kit to Alecia.

Juan explains that Bud is a tengu, and probably would fly away to get help. Aima, however, would hide in a body of water – being a mermaid.

Juan explains that the roads seem to be changing, as if by magic, each day. He also mentions that while exploring the forest, he encountered a strange purple mist, and when he entered it, he became disoriented and ended up ultimately unable to progress any farther. He says the Wendigo had been seen near the mist, although he is unsure whether it was also disoriented by it, or if it was using it for cover.

They find paths with various-sized footprints. One has small footprints, and one has huge monster-sized ones. The footprints are huge— bigger than a Wendigo’s, and much rounder. Mechano suggests they split up in order to better find the Resonator. Frisk, Asriel, and Juan follow the smaller footprints; Mechano, Alecia, and Ajax take the other route.

Frisk’s team finds a clearing, seeing a person there. They’re slumped down against a tree, next to what looks like shallow graves with human body parts sticking from them. The person looks at Frisk and asks what they’re doing there. Frisk notices that the person has no legs.

Frisk asks what happened. The man says that the Wendigo did this. He says he’s Mathias, who Frisk remembers is Aaron’s supplier. Frisk dresses Mathias’s wounds, despite his insistence that Frisk and company run away. After stabilizing him, Frisk goes to find Mechano.

Meanwhile, a huge clawed hand rips from the trees at Alecia, but misses her. Alecia sees the hand belongs to a huge eight-foot-tall creature wearing a goat’s skull with six horns as a mask.

Mechano sics his Blade Drone on the creature, but it doesn’t do any damage. Alecia hits it with her lance. Suddenly, the creature opens its mouth wide, and it makes a terrible loud noise. It damages Alecia. Mechano tries shooting it, but he (and his Blade Drone, still attacking on its own) misses. Alecia hits it again, dealing damage. It swipes back at her with its claws, dealing ice damage.

Mechano uses his Scan Monocle to see the enemy’s stats, and realizes that it can stretch its arms a considerable distance, a terrifying roar attack, and that Wendigos are weak against fire and wind attacks. Mechano’s blade drone gives it a stab while it’s distracted.

Mechano, now armed with the knowledge that the Wendigo is weak against fire, lobs one of the explosives at it. It explodes, damaging the Wendigo. The Blade drone strikes again, but misses.

Alecia just keeps on stabbing, damaging it again. The Wendigo angrily swipes Mechano, damaging him. Mechano angrily throws an explosive charge right at it, setting the Wendigo on fire.

Frisk arrives on the scene, finding the burning, bleeding Wendigo. They shout to the Wendigo, telling it to stand down in order to receive mercy. Frisk then splashes the Wendigo with water from their canteen to douse the flames. The Wendigo, somewhat stunned, accepts Frisk’s offer of mercy and hunches down, trying to make itself look less intimidating. Frisk shackles the Wendigo, which astounds Mechano.

The Wendigo points to a path, which leads to a densely-wooded area. Frisk, confused, asks if something dangerous is down that path, but the Wendigo shakes its head and points more insistently. Frisk tells the Wendigo that they’ll go look, but they need to leave the manacles in place while they do.

As Frisk heads down the path, Mechano and Alicia follow, stunned by what just happened. Mechano asks how Frisk did that, but they brush it off, saying that’s not important just then. Frisk mentions that Mathias is alive (for now), and that they need to hurry and get to him as soon as they’re finished dealing with the Wendigo.

The party reaches a strange clearing with a bunch of grass heaped together in a large circle. As they approach, they smell something unpleasant. There are three very tiny forms laying in the circle, with messed-up faces that are difficult to discern. These are baby Wendigos that have been dead for a long time. It looks as though they died from a disease that malformed their bodies. Mechano surmises that the Wendigo they had fought was their mother— and that she had been hunting humans in desperation to try to get her children to eat, not understanding they were already dead. Alicia is unable to look at the scene, though she tries to play it off as cool indifference.

Frisk suggests taking the Wendigo back to the fortress. Mechano mulls it over; thinking it might be useful to have such a powerful creature under his command, and decides that’s more useful than the reward money.

- Frisk wakes up after a poor night’s sleep on the cots, and goes to Toriel to ask if we can get real beds. Toriel also didn’t sleep well, and agrees, saying that the best course of action would be to find a carpenter in a nearby town. She explains that the nearest towns are Gear, a hind city, and Quinstints. Frisk is interested in Gear, but Toriel is a bit hesitant. She says that Asriel and herself are different from the other hind, with their furry and bestial appearances, and would not be welcome there. Frisk is baffled by this, not understanding why they would be shunned for looking different.

- Frisk decides that if Gear is out of the question, they should head to Quinstints instead. Toriel is concerned with this idea too, as Mechano seemed a bit shifty when that came up.

- Mechano briefs the Minioids on his plan. Frisk wanders outside and sees them, baffled by the large number of Minioids. They overhear Mechano saying the Minioids need to make sure Toriel doesn’t get angry with him. Frisk asks why she’d be angry, and Mechano hastily says that he was saying “hungry”— that they need to go into town and get groceries.

- Frisk says this is a great idea. They wanted to head to town to find a carpenter anyway. Mechano tries to find a way to leave Frisk behind, and says that Quinstints is too far away— there’s only one seat in the Mechano Walker, and Mechano can’t just drive them there. But M-55 speaks up, saying that there is a bucket seat that Frisk could fit in.

- Frisk grabs Mechano by the hand and starts to lead him to Toriel, so they can all discuss this. On the way, they whisper to Mechano, asking which one of the Minioids they asked on a date earlier. Mechano points out M-55, and Frisk takes a moment to try to memorize their appearance. They succeed, and can now pick out M-55 with ease!

- Frisk and Mechano meet up with Toriel, and Frisk asks where Asriel is, as they’re going to be discussing where to find supplies. Toriel tells them that he’s in the greenhouse, and leads the group there. They find Asriel covered in dirt— he’s been weeding and getting things under control. When he sees everyone, he hurries over to them.

- Mechano doesn’t want the kids to go with him, but Asriel is super excited by the prospect of seeing the big city. Toriel seems to think it’s a good idea for them to have a cultural experience like this, and asks Mechano to take them with him. She says she’ll be extremely grateful, and Mechano, though frustrated at the prospect, knows that he wants Toriel’s help. He agrees to take them with him.

- Robutler and Toriel will stay behind to clean up in the fortress. Frisk grabs Asriel by the arm, and they run to the Mechano Walker. They climb into the bucket seat. Mechano starts to get angry at Asriel for tracking dirt into his machine— but with Toriel nearby, he quickly calms himself. Asriel is super impressed by the machine, and Frisk asks if it can play music. Mechano starts to play his theme song. Frisk doesn’t think it sounds like an archaeologist’s theme.

- Mechano kicks the machine into flight as they head to the city. Mechano is navigating, and knows the most direct route to the city. Frisk is looking around for enemies or obstacles, but doesn’t see anything. Suddenly, an arrow passes by Mechano’s head! There’s large grass nearby, and Mechano tries to figure out where the enemies are. He figures out their general location.

- Mechano tells the kids to avert their eyes— he’s going to take care of the situation. Frisk asks what he means, and Mechano says that he’s going to blast the enemies into oblivion. Frisk says this isn’t the way, and tells him they should just run. Mechano, frustrated, tries to reach for his weapon, and Frisk taunts him, saying that he’s too afraid to run away, provoking Social Combat!

- Mechano tries to rebut, saying that running away is the cowardly option. But the argument doesn’t sway Frisk. Frisk tries to calm him down and refocus him, telling him that all they need to do is get to the city— that getting embroiled here is a bad idea. Mechano says that it’s a bad idea to let them go, because they started it. But Frisk doesn’t care— Mechano takes damage to his willpower. Frisk tries again to tell Mechano that the city is so near, and with us so close, it’s not worth it. Mechano, flustered, tells Frisk they know nothing about the world outside— they’re just a child, and they don’t know anything.

Mechano: Up here, it’s kill or be killed!

- …but Frisk still doesn’t care. Frisk says there’s no way the only thing to do is kill. The city is right there— they can easily get away. Mechano, upset, says they almost hit him. But he capitulates, and they try to retreat.

- Though they flee quickly, their assailants take chase. There’s three of them— two humans and a mutant. They take us at swordpoint and try to force us to pay a toll. Frisk asks why, if this is just an empty field. They claim it’s their field, and Frisk asks what its name is. The lead human says it’s “Our Field”, and Frisk says that name could be anyone’s. In fact, they have a fortress nearby…

- Mechano steps forth and tells the robbers that they need to step down, because they have a huge army in the fortress. The robber isn’t entirely convinced, but realizes he may have seen wanted posters of Mechano… Mechano presses his advantage, and says that it’s a bad idea to mess with a scientist who has an army of powerful robots. The mutant flees, and Mechano smacks his theme song button, scaring the enemies even farther. Giving up, the head of the robbers hands over his sword to Mechano. Mechano says he knows they’ve been taking tolls, and so they need to give them to him— to be returned to their rightful owners, of course. The robber complies, and begins to flee, as Mechano warns them to turn away from their dastardly path. Mechano gets 150 silver and a broadsword!

- Frisk smiles at Mechano, telling him that they’re proud of him. Mechano is baffled by this. Frisk explains that he did the right thing by talking the bandits down without hurting them. He doesn’t particularly care about that, but seems satisfied that they won’t mess with him anymore.

- They reach Quinstints— the city of five towers. It’s divided into three layers, with the upper classes living in the higher buildings. The town is very safe compared to most, but slightly classist. It’s full of tunnels and roads that make it easy to get from place to place. It’s also very crowded, filled with all kinds of races.

- Mechano parks his mech in an out of the way tunnel. He glances around to see if he can find something to disguise his appearance a bit. He finds a toupee and a sun hat. Frisk snickers and asks what he’s doing— and Mechano claims he’s just dressing up. That’s what surface people do. Frisk says they never did that in their village, and Mechano says that’s because their village isn’t as great as this city. Frisk gets upset and quiets down, but Mechano doesn’t notice.

- We head for the grocery store. While we’re there, we buy a bunch of seeds, ingredients, and some rations. While looking at the seeds, Frisk is particularly captivated by the cyan “spirit flowers.” There is a legend about the flowers— that long ago, a human named Nalin fell in love with a tau dragon named Lahela. Nalin was a brave and courageous knight, who had heard that a terrible dragon was laying waste to a nearby forested region. But when he reached the place, he learned that Lahela was innocent, and it was an unrelated serpentine creature. Together, they vanquished the creature… and Nalin asked Lahela on a date. When Nalin finally died, many years later, it is said that the spirit flowers bloomed from the tears Lahela shed. The story excites Frisk, as they learn about this ancient hero who flirted with a monster and ended up romancing her. They consider Nalin to be someone worth looking up to.

- As they walk to find the carpenter, Frisk complains about things costing money— they haven’t had to deal with that in a long time, and they’re not sure how to get more than they have. They foraged for food in the ruins. On the plus side, they reason, Toriel might not try to get them to eat snail pies anymore now that they have more surface food to choose from. Mechano groans and agrees that he doesn’t understand the hind’s obsession with snails. Asriel doesn’t mind their disgust— it means more for him.

- Entering the carpenter shop, it’s full of great furniture. There’s no one at the counter, but we can hear worried muttering from the back. Mechano says he’ll take care of things, and Frisk wonders if that’s really wise— they ask if he knows how to talk to people without threatening them. Frisk asks if they can be the one try to convince the carpenter to help them, but Mechano says since they’re just a child, to leave it to him. Frisk shrugs and approaches the counter… but they can’t see high enough to ring the bell. They try to anyway, and fail, smacking the counter over and over. Giving up, they ask Mechano for help.

- The carpenter, Aaron, approaches, and recognizes Mechano. The two have done business before. Aaron tells Mechano that he’s concerned, because his supplier, Mathias, has been gone for almost a week. Without the new supplies of wood, Aaron can’t work his trade. Worse, Aaron fears that something may have happened to him. There’s been whisperings of monsters in the woods— wendigoes.

- Frisk asks if there’s a guard or rescue team in the area, and Aaron realizes for the first time that there are children there. Seeing Asriel, he jokes with Mechano that he’s “been in with a hind”, flustering and annoying Mechano. Aaron claims that he would have gladly traded his wife for a hind… But then he says he’s just teasing— neither Asriel nor Frisk look anything like Mechano. He returns his attention to Frisk and asks what they’re doing here. They explain why they’ve come to him, and ask if he can help outfit the fortress.

- Aaron is impressed by hearing about the fortress. Although he wishes he could help, the lack of wood from his supplier makes this impossible. He explains that the guard in this town are too cowardly, and refuse to go into a forest where there may be wendigoes. As such, that leaves only wandering heroes like us. He says that he’ll help us if we can find Mathias— or at least his remains.

Frisk is out exploring the ruins, where they, Toriel, and Asriel live.

Frisk knows not to touch certain things in the ruins, thanks to Toriel’s warnings. Deeper into the ruins are things that look like doors, but Frisk has never figured out how to open them.

Today, Frisk is out with their bug net, at Toriel’s favorite bug-hunting spot.

Meanwhile, the nefarious Dr. Mechano is digging for a Resonator Stone, an artifact said to hold great power. He lounges back in his hulking mech, the Mechano Walker, while his robotic lackeys – the Minioids – dig up the area in search of the stone. His assistant Robutler fans him as he “supervises” the Minioids’ work.

Robutler reminds Mechano that these ancient ruins are very delicate, and that they should be careful digging them up. Mechano is unconcerned with the preservation of the ruins, but understandably agrees that they should take caution for safety’s sake.

A Minioid finds something shiny, and waves Mechano over. However, before they can bring the shiny object over, the ground collapses, sending the Minioid plummeting into the ground below.

“No!” Mechano calls out in despair, “My precious, beloved… Resonator! …I have to go down there and save it!”

Mechano leaves Robutler to watch the remaining Minioids, and flies down in his Mechano Walker after the lost Minioid and Resonator.

The bottom of the pit is pitch-black, and Mechano can’t see a thing. Mechano uses an electronic light to illuminate the area. It’s one of the oldest rooms in the ruins, overrun with vines. There appears to be a door – and a dog door, as well. And there seems to be some humanoid figure in the corner.

Mechano approaches the figure, and discovers that it’s metallic. One of the arms breaks right off as soon as Mechano picks it up. It’s at least 2,000 years old, possibly even older. He tries to take it to use it for scrap metal, but the whole thing breaks apart as soon as he moves it. A few large pieces are still intact, so he takes those. (+5 scraps)

Mechano tries to enter the door in the pit, but it won’t budge. He examines the door, and it has three shapes on it. These ancients were obsessed with the geometrical platonic solids. He pushes the square in the door, which opens it.

Meanwhile, Frisk is just playing in the ruins. They find a beautiful monarch butterfly. When suddenly, a wall opens a little robot tumbles out.

“He’s the greatest scientist who ever lived!” the Minioid says excitedly, “And someday he’s gonna rule the world! And we’re gonna help him do it!”

Frisk is a bit perplexed by this, but agrees to help the Minioid find what they lost. They also offer to take the Minioid back to their house, and they happily tag along.

Suddenly, as they walk, one of the traingular things rises out of the ground. The Minioid is interested in it, but Frisk says they’re not supposed to touch it.

Green lights emit from the triangular object. They’re confused by it, but it subsides. They continue toward Frisk’s home.

On the way, a mechanical guardian. It runs a similar light over Frisk and the Minioid. It draws a glowing blue saber, and drones out a monotonous series of incomprehensible words.

Frisk screams out for Toriel. The mechanical guardian approaches, as the Minioid cowers behind Frisk.

Frisk grabs the Minioid’s hand and starts running. They run through a series of forking hallways, putting some distance between themselves and the machine.

Frisk calms down the panicked Minioid as they reach a circular dead-end. They hear mechanical clanging coming from behind the guardian.

Mechano emerges from the room he descended into, and sees the mechanical guardian banging on the wall. He grumbles about this ancient tech being incompetent, and blasts it in the back with his laser gun.

The machine turns around, and seems to be scanning Mechano for a moment, then raises its blade and advances.

Mechano sends out a Blade Drone to slash at the guardian. It manages to damage the guardian a little bit.

The guardian slashes at Mechano’s mech, but it doesn’t do any damage. Mechano sighs in frustration at the weak robot and blasts its face off with his laser blaster. Meanwhile, the Blade Drone takes another whack at it, dealing significant damage and destroying the guardian. Mechano realizes it’s the same kind of machine as the figure he found earlier.

The Blade Drone flies back to Mechano, who congratulates it and gives it a little pat.

The Minioid sees Dr. Mechano, and runs up and hugs his mech’s leg. Mechano asks where the Resonator is, but the Minioid lost it, and babbles about pie and the new friend they made. They drag Frisk out to meet Mechano, who is surprised to see a child living in the ruins.

Frisk tells Mechano that he has pretty eyes, confusing and angering Mechano. Frisk tells him that their guardian, Toriel, is a Hind. He’s annoyed that other people are aware of his presence here, and tries to excuse himself before meeting a potentially-powerful foe.

Frisk asks the Minioid when they’re going to have that date, eliciting a perplexed response from Mechano.

As Mechano is about to leave with his Minioid, he hears plodding footsteps approaching. They all turn to see Toriel arrive.

Frisk calls out to Toriel and hugs her.

Toriel is confused about what happened. Frisk explains what had chased after them.

Toriel doesn’t know who Mechano is either, which Mechano takes advantage of. He lies to her, saying that the Resonator he’s looking for was originally his, and that it simply fell into the ruins by mistake. The Minioid, M-55, knows where it is and draws a crude map of its whereabouts.

Toriel offers to lead them into the ruins, and Mechano decides to use her immense strength to his advantage.

Frisk tugs on Toriel’s dress, saying that if there are more of these machines around, they shouldn’t leave Asriel alone.

Mechano whispers to M-55 to keep it quiet about his world-domination ambitions, since these two somehow don’t know who Mechano is.

M-55 excitedly looks forward to going back to Toriel’s place for pie, while Mechano impatiently groans at the prospect. He doesn’t want pie or a rest! He just wants his Resonator so that he can conquer the world!

Toriel leads the way, and Frisk, Mechano, and M-55 follow. They arrive at her home.

Mechano leaves his mech outside, and he and the Minioid enter the house uncertainly.

There are only three chairs. Toriel offers to stand, and Mechano – ever the gentleman – is totally fine with taking one of the remaining chairs.

Mechano complains about having to wait to get his Resonator. M-55 bounces excitedly, and Frisk contentedly waits for the pie.

Toriel arrives, with Asriel – another Hind – about Frisk’s age. Asriel is fascinated by the Minioid.

Toriel serves pie to everyone. She asks about Mechano’s life.

He lies about being an explorer who investigates ancient caves. He says he’s a supervilla-archaeologist, which Frisk posits is an explorer who specializes in villages. The Minioid almost spills the beans on their world-conquering real goals, and Mechano stuffs a slice of pie in its mouth to shut it up.

Frisk tells Toriel about the mysterious green light, and Toriel is concerned. She surmises that the Resonator might be awakening the ancient machines. Mechano has no idea if that’s true or not, but agrees to get them to help him find it.

M-55 talks about falling down one of the chutes in the ruins, which the others have never heard of.

They agree to take Asriel along, just in case the house is attacked while they’re gone.

Toriel reminds Frisk to take their locket. Asriel excitedly reminds everyone that he has his too.

Toriel checks to see if there’s anything worth taking with them, and gets a satchel with a first aid kit, a healing potion, and a blue magic potion.

Mechano urges everyone to hurry up and go find the Resonator, and they set out.

They arrive at three doors – bearing the images of a star, the moon, and a four-sided stone.

Asriel thinks the star is really cool. He’s come here before, but could never get it to do anything.

Mechano presses the moon door, but it doesn’t do anything.

Frisk suggests pressing all three doors instead. They do. The doors reset, but don’t open.

Mechano suggests just blasting the doors down, but Toriel reminds him that this could cause a cave-in. He begrudgingly admits Toriel is right.

Mechano examines the doors a bit more closely, realizing that this was a more recent culture – one fixated on astrology rather than simple geometric shapes. Symbolism like this is common throughout the world, reminiscent of an old creation myth where the stars and moon are the parents of a planet. There’s likely a connection between the myth and this mechanism.

Mechano tries to press the switches in a specific order – stars, moon, planet. Then the floor descends like an elevator, and the room descends.

At the bottom is a mural. On it is a grand city. Next is people – not quite humanoid. Next image is what appears to be a mathematical equation. Next is some kind of grand mechanism with an unclear purpose. The final image is a pentagon; within it, a square, and within it a triangle. In the triangle is a symbol that the party cannot decipher.

The elevator stops. Behind the party is a new hallway into a new portion of the ruins.

Mechano, using his lights, leads the way into the dark hallway. It’s full of old garbage and ancient machines.

They reach a large room with an opaque glass ceiling. They find a console that seems to be in unusually good shape compared to the rest of the room.

Mechano decides to press the big red button on the console. They hear the chugging of a generator. Lights come on from above.

Asriel and Frisk randomly mash keys on the keyboard, much to Mechano’s chagrin. Garbled static appears on the screen.

From out of nowhere, we hear a voice ask “Is someone there?”

Frisk answers the speaker, but thinks the speaker itself is the source of the voice, and that someone’s trapped inside.

The voice says they need to jump dimensions to get a better signal. The screen starts to display a somewhat clearer, but still distorted, image.

The voice introduces itself as Jomra. Says his time’s long since passed.

Jomra and his people have been trapped between timelines for thousands of years, able to see – but not interact with – their old kingdom.

Jomra says that if they can find a way to free him, he’ll give them anything they want; Richs, their kingdom, even their secret knowledge of time travel. Mechano is instantly interested in acquiring all of that power, and offers, out of the goodness of his heart, to help free Jomra and his people.

They learn that they need three Resonator stones to begin the process of freeing them, and Jomra instructs them as to how to find the first one, still in the ruins.

As an early installment reward, Jomra offers Mechano their old fortress, just west of the ruins.

Jomra warns them to watch out for a tall man, who looks like a human with two horns. Frisk wonders if it could be a Hind— but neither Toriel nor Asriel look like humans. Frisk asks Toriel, who doesn’t have any clue what such a creature could be.

Jomra departs, promising Mechano riches and power.

Mechano grins, “I don’t say this about people too often, but I really like that guy!”

Toriel seems concerned and distrustful of Jomra, but Frisk says that even if he is lying, if they really are trapped there, they need to help him. Toriel agrees that they must help people in need.

Mechano shrugs to M-55, saying that their original plan to use a single Resonator to power a superweapon to defeat Captain Cool probably wouldn’t have worked anyway, and that collecting three of them to free Jomra and take his power would be a much better plan.

Asriel asks who Captain Cool is, and Frisk asks why a super village archaeologist would need a superweapon; Mechano lies and says that his heroic arch-nemesis is an evildoer who mercilessly freezes people while making terrible ice puns.

They head to an elevator. It takes the party down to a lower level of the ruins.

They find a very pristine room with three large circular slots. In one of them is a green circular stone with electricity leaping within its interior. It’s the Resonator.

Mechano is excited, and proclaims how great it is that they’re one step closer to acquiring Jomra’s power. Asriel gets excited too, and thinks how awesome it is that Mechano has a new fort. They bond a bit over filling it with totally-cool robots and weapons. Frisk just thinks it’d be neat to have a pillow fort.

Mechano reluctantly agrees to let Frisk, Toriel, and Asriel tag along back to the fort – Having a couple of Hinds on the team could be beneficial. A little fire-magic in Mechano’s corner could certainly help him out of a few tight spots as they looked for the remaining two Resonators.

They take the elevator back up to the surface of the ruins. It leads to a nearby hill. Mechano contacts Robutler, tells him to meet him at the new fortress, and to tell the Minioids to not mention their goals of world conquest around the “guests.”

They head to the old fortress. Smoke rises from the building. Mechano is irritated that there might be people living in his new fortress, and charges in.

They find a horned man sitting at a campfire. Mechano demands to know why he’s there.

The guy asks, “You really bought it?” and explains that this is a trick. That there’s nothing to be gained from walking down this path.

He introduces himself as Glund. He says that if something’s too good to be true, it shouldn’t be trusted.

Frisk asks if he knew those people, and if they’re really trapped in there. Glund doesn’t know for sure, but says that there have been many other people who have attempted this quest, suckered into it by promises of riches or glory, and that the stories they’ve been told always seem to change. He seems convinced that the promised rewards are a lie, and says that, although he likes humans, they’re far too naive when it comes to such things.

But Frisk isn’t interested in the reward, and doesn’t care if it was a lie. They want to help the trapped people just because it’s the right thing to do. Glund says Frisk reminds him of an old friend, and asks them to promise to be careful.

Glund leaves. Frisk casually asks Asriel if he’ll have horns like that when he grows up. Asriel hopes not, as it would make simple things like sleeping difficult. Toriel chuckles and assures him that his horns won’t get that big.

Deciding that they need to find a bedroom, Frisk and Asriel run off to see the rest of the fortress. Mechano and Toriel remain in the main room, as Mechano surveys the area.

The fortress is huge— three stories tall, and big enough to host a much larger force than the party. There are plenty of amenities, and although they are worn out and old, they could be restored without too much trouble. In addition to having many bedrooms, there’s a communal bath house, a cafeteria, a green house, a storage room, and a greenhouse.

The greenhouse is overgrown with wild plants, and likely needs to be cleared out, but once it is, it could support a magnificent garden. Frisk suggests the idea to Asriel, who thinks that would be really cool.

Next, they check out the bathhouse. Neither Frisk nor Asriel have ever seen a faucet before, and don’t recognize the indentation in the floor as a bathtub. They try pulling on one of the faucet handles curiously, but it doesn’t budge due to rust.

They have a great view of the outside from the balcony. There are mountains to the south, a river to the west, and a great city to the southeast, barely seen from this distance. Although they cannot see it from here, Frisk knows that the remains of their home village lie to the north…

Frisk and Asriel pick a corner room on the third floor for themselves, on the logic that the corner rooms have more windows and thus a nicer view of the outside. But there’s no actual bed inside— only a cot, and no other furniture of furnishings. Frisk tells Asriel that they’re going to need to get a real bed, and he emphatically agrees.

Returning to the main room, Frisk gets Mechano to follow them to the bathhouse. They ask him if he knows what it is, since he’s the expert on machines. Mechano seems surprised and explains that it’s a bathtub, curious how Frisk wouldn’t know that. Frisk explains that they’d never seen anything like that— the bathtubs Toriel used were metallic things that she heated with fire magic, and even back in their human village, they had used similar tubs. Mechano tries to turn it on to explain how it works, but he can’t budge the handles either. He says he’ll fix the plumbing.

Once again returning to the main room, Frisk asks Toriel about her friends, who she lost contact with. Frisk explains their idea that, now that they have this fortress, it could be used to gather them together. Toriel agrees. Frisk wants to find them, particularly hoping that they will have news of any survivors from their village. Toriel tells them not to give up hope. She says there are many nearby cities, and suggests that other members of her group may be hiding out in them.